Merchant Ships Fair Game in Nigerian Waters
US Government Consul-General, Jeffrey Hawkins, observes ineffectual Nigeria Government response to a growing incidence of piracy. The US envoy made his comment at the recently concluded Nigeria Maritime Expo (NIMAREX 2013) in Lagos. Acknowledging that Nigeria has enormous maritime potentials, the US envoy commented that realising those potentials would be a mirage if the security challenges are not tackled, reports the Nigerian Tribune. Hawkins posited further that there are many accusations that entities involved in providing maritime security collude in some of the illegal activities. According to the US envoy, both the available data and the anecdotal evidence suggest that the situation is only worsening…
Ships Collide Causing Damage at Lagos Port
A container ship, the MSC Pillar, which was on its way to Tin Can Island Port, has run into another ship on anchorage, inflicting severe damage on the vessel at the Lagos Port Complex, Apapa. Josco Suzhou, a 35,000 metric tonne vessel laden with 6,524 metric tonnes of bulk gypsum, was discharging at Berth 19 of the port complex at the weekend inside the terminal owned by Greenview Development Nigeria Ltd. when the MSC Pilar came on it. Eyewitnesses told the Nigerian Tribune that MSC Pilar was being piloted by one of the marine pilots of the Nigerian Ports Authority when it suddenly lost control and to avoid running into an on-coming bigger ship, went onto the Josco Suzhou which was at berth.
Oil Worker’s Children Abducted in Nigeria
Two children, Fransisca Ehileme, age six, and her five-year-old brother, Francis, both children of an oil worker, were abducted by gunmen on their way to school around Rumuigbo junction in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital. Security sources informed the Nigerian Tribune in Port Harcourt that the father of the children, Mr. Maximus Ehileme, a production superintendent with Elf Petroleum, was taking them to school in his car at about 6:50 a.m. when the armed hoodlums blocked his car near Obi Wali Road junction by Rumu-Echieolu Street. A source from the State Security Service (SSS) told the Nigerian Tribune that no contact had been established with the kidnappers yet, but added that the SSS had already taken up the case and would be handling the negotiations for their release.
Attempt to Blow Up Platform Foiled
Authorities of the Eastern Naval Command have explained how their officers and men succeeded last weekend in foiling attempts by some militant youths to blow up oil platforms belonging to Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited at Ibeno Eket, Akwa Ibom State, the Nigerian Tribune reported. Addressing newsmen in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, the Commanding Officer of NNS Victory, Captain Benjamin Akinwale Coker, said attempts to blow up the oil were a follow up to their forceful invasion of Mobil off-shore platform located at Edop, about 25 nautical miles into the Atlantic Ocean. Security operatives in the Niger Delta region were put on alert and at the weekend…
Helicopters Employed to Fight Illegal Bunkering
The Nigerian Navy will soon have more combat helicopters to check the activities of illegal oil bunkerers, according to a report in the Nigerian Tribune. A Nigerian military source said the new helicopters would complement the present six, in an effort to beef up security, especially in the Niger Delta and to ward off threat of illegal oil bunkerers.
